The 'on-demand' utility

"In order to succeed in the future, utility companies will need to transform their services and capabilities to be flexible and on demand"

Utility organisations face an increasingly challenging environment and face a period of increasing change and uncertainty. This is the result of the growing three-way tension between the need for security of supply, for prices to be kept at an affordable level, while ensuring environmental sustainability. Utility organisations that fail to balance these challenges (and their knock-on effects) are likely to see loss of equity/ shareholder value and may be vulnerable to acquisition in a later consolidation phase of the industry. Those that succeed are likely to see significant gains in value and benefits to their local and regional economies. This success will need fundamental change in the operational and service models deployed by utility organisations, and will require novel approaches to new technology. These organisations, which we are calling 'on-demand utilities', will need to re-align themselves to be flexible and to respond fluidly to anticipated and unexpected challenges.

This white paper discusses the issues facing the utility industry, and using insight from other technology sectors offers some advice on how to address them.

Contents:

• The challenges faced by utility organisations
• Why addressing these challenges is so difficult
• Learning from other technology-centric sectors
• A vision for utilities of the future